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Learn the art of leading small group tours, workshops and retreats.A market that is set to explode!​

​​The Olive Odysseys Presents​

The Art of Tour Leading​ A Live Master Class​

Greece by Land & by Sea​May 6-15 2018​Thank you! Sold out. Please click here to be put on the waiting list

​Discover the ingredients that produce a bespoke custom tour, workshop or retreat.

What better way to learn this craft than live and on the ground while being led by the experts?

Learn directly from Patricia & Manolis Hajifotiou of The Olive Odysseys.​We will be live and on the ground in Greece in May!

This trip will be preceded by our 6-week intensive online lessons * (see here for what is all included in our online portion of our Master Class). These classes start April 10 2018 and run twice a week until the start of the live class in Greece. We will get you designing your own tours /workshops/retreats in the 4 weeks pre-tour. Then you will fly to Athens and meet us in person. There we will conduct our very popular Greece by Land & By Sea custom tour exclusively for our students.

On tour, each day, we will go over another aspect of tour leading while you get to see us live and in action. You will get all of our insider secrets including our own TripScripts® that we have developed over the 20 years of running tours. You will see and learn live and on-site how each tour is put together, including all the legal, procedural, and policy needs of your tours. So that you can lead your tours anywhere in the world you want to.

Plus you will get the full benefit of an experiential and relaxing vacation at the same time.

What better way to travel and learn a new craft? One that can get you on the road to designing and leading your own tours, workshops, or retreats for your new lucrative career. Change your life, join us in May 2019!

Here is what we will be doing each day-​

Day One- May 6Welcome to Athens, the birthplace of democracy. Our hotel is located right next to theNew Acropolis Museum, rated one of the best museums in the world (including awards for its unique architecture). You owe it to yourself to take your time visiting the museum and then make your way back to our hotel to sit and gaze up at the Acropolis from the rooftop bar.

Leave some time for a short rest before joining us later for drinks and introductions. We have planned a special first night dinner at a nearby taverna.

Swim opportunity :) -Our hotel has a rooftop jacuzzi from which you can enjoy Acropolis views. ​

Lesson-You'll learn how to conduct what we call a welcome, that most important first meeting. We'll review protocol on how to make your guest feel the most comfortable and the 1st thing you must tell them at the start of each tour. Each lesson will have a corresponding pdf handout sent to you online from the night before, and given to you during class on hard copy.

Day Two- May 7We are up early this morning as we take a walk in the hills surrounding the Acropolis. We will make our way up to the "historic rock” to take in the Parthenon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Take all the time you need to explore this monument dating from 447 BC, including sweeping views of Athens. We will walk together through the Ancient Agora and end up in the winding streets of Monastiraki, one of the oldest markets of Athens. Lunch is on your own, but we can recommend some of the best souvlaki that Athens has to offer.

In the afternoon, we will shuttle down to the marina and board our ferry for the island of Poros. After checking into our hotel, we will offer an optional walk exploring the beautiful seaside town and point out the beach. Dinner will be together at a traditional island taverna, well known to the locals.

Lesson-Skip the line tickets will be explored today-how to obtain them and how it adds so much to your clients experience. We'll review how we book our hotels, with some new exciting developments that you can use to get the best prices. In addition we will show you how we negotiate all those little extras that we give to our guest that delight them. We'll review our arrival and departure times that are key to making your guests' transition from place to place the easiest it can be.

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Day Three- May 8No need to unpack your bags, as we will leave after breakfast by Hydrofoil for a day trip to the lovely island of Hydra. There are no roads and no cars on Hydra, which has enabled this island to maintain its traditional character, with neoclassical houses amphitheater-like, sweeping up and around the port.

A walk is in order as we take in the highlights this island has to offer, including a tour of the traditional captain's house. We will have lunch together sampling the local fare. We are back on board our ferry in the afternoon to return to Poros. Dinner is on your own with plenty of recommendations from us.

Swim Opportunity-Pack swimwear for nearby beach on Hydra.

Breakfast/Walking Tour of Hydra/ Entrance Fee and Tour of Traditional Captains House/ Lunch/ Ferry to and From Hydra/ Overnight Island of Poros.More pictures from Day Three.

Lesson-Meals and how we find our restaurants and negotiate a place and a price for our tours. We will go over how we handle dietary needs on tour and the forms we send our clients way before our tour that gets us all the information we need to take care of their individual needs. We will also delve into how we find restaurants to recommend to our customers and how to use our rule in picking them out. Breakfasts and snacks on tour will also be covered.

Day Four- May 9After breakfast we have a short ferry ride to another island, the island of King Pelops, otherwise known as the Peloponnese. We head inland to the heart of this large 'island' and the famous ancient theater at Epidaurus. It is here where many of the greatest singers of all time have performed, including Maria Callas. Still today, there are ancient Greek plays performed during the summer festivals. Make sure you have a song to sing or a poem to recite so that you too can perform at this fantastic site. After taking our time absorbing the museum and ruins, we are off to the town of Nafplio, once the capital of Greece, and still one of the most preserved neoclassical towns.

​After we check in, you can climb the 990 steps to the fort at AcroNafplia for breathtaking views of the gulf, go for a swim at a nearby beach, or sit in the main square sipping a beer while you watch the locals. Either way, we will be on hand to facilitate your exploration plus point out the best gelato place around. We'll enjoy dinner together at one of our favorite restaurants amidst the cobblestone streets of this lovely town.

Lesson-We'll go over how we find our support personnel and the one thing we use to guarantee that their addition to your tour will be the best it can be. We will also go over an addition we do for our clients, our daily newspaper that your clients will love and will help you not have to repeat yourself!

Day Five-May 10Today we visit Mycenae, the previous home of King Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. It was here where the explorer Heinrich Schliemann believed he had found the mask of Agamemnon. The approach takes us through low-lying hills and valleys studded with shinning olive groves- but once there, beehive tombs and cyclopean walls await us. After touring the grounds and the museum, we will make our way to Nemea, where Hercules was put to one of his labors, slaying the Nemean Lion.

We will tour the grounds, which once held games that rivaled those at Olympia. Afterwards we will stop at an award-winning winery to taste test their best wines. We will tour their vineyards, and enjoy a light lunch on the grounds. In the afternoon, we will return to Nafplio where dinner will be on your own, but first join us in the courtyard of our hotel for a wine tasting of some of the best regional wines that Greece has to offer.

Lesson-We will go over the procedural parts of the tour that you will run. All the legal aspects that you will have to know in order to run a successful tour. One of the most important lessons of the tour, we'll take our time to give you the real documents that we use to ensure your trips run smoothly.

Have any questions?Set up a simple online meeting and talk directly with Patricia & Manolis.

Day Six- May 11We are off to the auspicious fortress at AcroCorinth and the area in which St. Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians. Views across the mainland and blue waters of the Gulf of Corinth await us as we take out time visiting this archaeological site where the outside walls measure over 2 km long. ​We will have a stop to look over the famed Corinth Canal to take in this feat of engineering, before lunch on our own nearby.

The evening finds us back in Athens for an overnight stay before we hit the seas and our Cycladic island adventure. Breakfast/ The Fortress at AcroCorinth/ Visit to Corinth Canal/ Transportation back to Athens/ Overnight Athens

Lesson-The use of social media in your quest to get your first trips up and running including how to build your email list. We will go over the secrets that we used to get to where we are now, running tours and traveling the world.

Day Seven- May 12After breakfast we shuttle to the port of Piraeus (Athens Port) to set sail on the Aegean Sea and make our way to the Cycladic islands. We will take our time as we pass by islands in the distance and take in the never-ending blue sky. You can have lunch will be onboard our large ferry as we cruise the Aegean.

We are off to the island of Mykonos—a whitewashed island alive with beauty and fun. Upon arrival we will check into our hotel and have an orientation walk of the town. Dine together amongst the bougainvillea draped backstreets of Mykonos. The rest of the evening is yours to enjoy the nightlife the island offers.

Lesson-Pre tour and post tour procedure. What you need to send your clients by mail and by email before their tours even start. Then the one thing we always do after our customers go home that guarantees that they will be back for more.

Day Eight- May 13This morning is yours to enjoy. We will be on hand to advise you on activities you might enjoy.

Be ready at noon as we leave for the uninhabited island of Delos (apart from archeologists), once the center of the ancient Greek world and the mythological birthplace of the god Apollo, where digs are still on-going. We'll see the remains of the sacred lake and the Terrace of the Lions, not to mention beautiful mosaics still in place after thousands of years.

​In the evening dinner is on your own and the nightlife of Mykonos beckons.

Swim Opportunity-many fine beaches on Mykonos.​Breakfast/ Ferry to The Island of Delos/ Walking tour of Delos/ Visit to the museum/ UNESCO World Heritage Site (Delos)/ Overnight Mykonos

Lesson- Hotels, hotels, hotels! How to find them, how to book them and how to get the best price. We will have an in depth look at why our customers say "How do you do it?!" when they marvel at the hotels we pick out.

Day Nine- May 14After breakfast we will pack our bags and ready ourselves for our ferry to Santorini, one of the most singular places in all of the Aegean. Whitewashed houses sit clinging to the rim of the caldera, left after the large volcanic eruption of 1650 BC.

After checking our bags at our caldera-view hotel, we will lead a walk into town, along winding paths and make our way to the Prehistoric Museum in Fira. Here we will have a look at the ancient civilization that once lived here; which some people think was the lost City of Atlantis.​Later join us for dinner together at one of the few traditional tavernas still left on the island. The rest of the evening is yours for checking out the nightlife. ​Breakfast/ Ferry to Santorini / Tour of the Prehistoric Museum in Fira/ Caldera-View Hotel/ Orientation Walk/ Dinner together.

Lesson-All the transport modes that we use to get our clients around. We'll talk about ferries, flights, buses, vans, taxis, and trains. The best way to book them and the pitfalls that you need to be aware of.

Day Ten- May 15Enjoy your own private breakfast in your room as you look out over the blue sea and islands in the distance.We will offer two options to further explore this magnificent island. Either a shopping tour of the two main villages on the island or a breathtaking walk along the caldera. Lunch on your own at any one of the cafes in town.

In the evening, meet us back at the hotel where we will cap off the evening with a special farewell dinner and maybe even some Greek dancing!

Lesson-We will have a round-robin discussion on anything you might like to know. Plus remember that after you get back we will have four more session one-on-one so that you will be super ready to start your new adventure!

Day Eleven- May 16Our trip ends on the Island of Santorini. You have many options; stay on a little while longer, explore more of the Cycladic islands or return to Athens and get ready for your return journey. Either way we bid you Kalo-Taxidi (have a good trip in Greek)! Breakfast

Meals:

In addition:

6 Pretour live online Master Classes (see more about them!)One-on-one phone conferences with Patricia after each classEmail access to Patricia for questionsFast track transportation Skip the line ticketsAll ferry rides as listed in itinerary (except return from Santorini) Carefully chosen hotels centrally located Two bicultural & bilingual guides who live here! Packing checklist Reading list Movie list Luggage tags Direct email access to tour leaders for any questions Pre-tour phone calls for all participants to talk directly to tour leaders Attention to detail

What is your responsibility?

Airfare to and from Greece (arrival Athens departure Athens—​ATH)Transportation to our starting hotel from the airport (we can help with this)Transportation at the end of the tour (tour ends on Santorini where you can stay on if you like!)Expenses arising from personal needs such as medications, vaccinations, travel documents, communications or any other expenses incurred due to traveling.​

Why are we the best at what we do? We live here. We live in Greece and are on the ground. ​We are not more that 3 hours from any destination we lead tours to.

Tour Cost:This tour is strictly limited to 12 people on a first come first serve basis.$4990 per person includes the 6 week online pre-tour Master Class and 4 weeks post tour one-on-one design questions and answer period with Patricia

-Prices are per person, which includes all of the above mentioned in the itinerary and is based on double occupancy. Single room rate is $625 per person extra added to the cost of the trip.A deposit of $1000 holds a spot on this tour. Until final payment is paid all deposits are fully refundable.

Thinking about coming with friend or a spouse? We have a special offer for you and them.Email us right now and we will get right back to you!Email about special offer

*​Even if you have already taken the course with Patricia you can use the 6 weeks pre-tour lesson as a great review. And nothing can match seeing a trip unfold live and in person!

Have any questions?Set up a simple online meeting and talk directly with Patricia & Manolis.​